The 70-year-old B-52 bomber will basically be 'a new airplane' once it finally gets its upgrades, Trump's pick for nuclear command says

• The US Air Force is updating its B-52 with new radar technology and engines.
• US President Donald Trump's STATCOM nominee said the upgrades make the B-52 basically "a new airplane."
• The upgrades are delayed by years and over-budget.

Planned upgrades for the US Air Force's 70-year-old strategic bomber will basically make the aircraft "a new airplane," President Donald Trump's nominee to head US Strategic Command said.

The B-52 Stratofortress has been a workhorseof the Air Force's long-range bomber fleet for decades, proving so indispensable that the service isn't ready to let it go.Modernization will keep it flying at least into the 2050s, though those upgrades have already been hit by delays and cost overruns.

Last week, Vice Adm. Richard Correll told the Senate Armed Services Committee the upgrade program was "essential" to ensuring the bombers can fulfill their intended role in strategic deterrence. New Rolls-Royce engines for the B-52s, he said, were world-class and would, along with upgraded radar technologies, essentially make the B-52 bomber "a new airplane."

Correll added that the planned updates would improve the readiness rate of the bombers going forward. But the B-52 upgrades won't be fielded until as late as 2030, about three years after originally planned, according to the Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog agency. In a report from earlier this year, the GAO said the B-52 Radar Modernization Program's production had been delayed, thus pushing its initial operational capability years late as well.

Per the GAO, officials said the problems were due to "challenges related to environmental qualification, parts procurement, and software."

The B-52 Commercial Engine Replacement Program, which will put the new Rolls-Royce engines in the bombers, is also similarly delayed due to the "Air Force underestimating the level of funding" needed to complete the re-engining designs, the GAO said. The initial capability isn't expected until sometime in 2033.

Air Force officials have expressed concerns over costs and timeline issues with the B-52 modernization programs, and defense experts and lawmakers have warned about the service's shrinking fleet.

Potentially helping to reverse that trendis one successful acquisition story, the new B-21 Raider bomber. In his hearing, Correll agreed with his predecessor Gen. Anthony Cotton's belief that more B-21 Raider bombers, which will replace the Air Force's older B-1 and B-2 bombers, are needed, calling the B-21 "one of the strongest-performing large acquisition programs we have."

Air Force officials have pointed to the B-21 as a success story with a clear development timeline and budget. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 of them, but Cotton and others, including Correll, believe that the service needs between 140 and 150. The B-21s are expected to be delivered for operational use next year.

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